Changes

In Europe, the culture also of post-mortem slowly died during the 20th century. The key thing influence that changed this tradition was death occurred more frequently in hospitalsrather than in the home. Death itself became regulated as well, as legislation in the United States and other Western countries increasingly made it less common or likely for people to die in their homes. This made it more difficult to photograph the dead as death itself became a part of medical practice rather than family experience for many, helping to erode the tradition as well. However, As many cultures in the 19th centuryhad used post-mortem photography, many cultures had begun adopting parts of the world did not experience the use of same shifts in practices that made post-mortem photographyless common or even accepted. These cultures continued to practice this even up to today. In some eastern cultures, such Christians in the Middle East, prominent dead figures are still displayed publically and photographed, where they are made to look as if they are sleeping in their vestments. For instance, the death of bishops or well known religious figures is often displayed in this way. This is also done in Russia and cultures from Orthodox Christianity. In some sub-Saharan African countries, this is also practiced more commonlyas a way to remember the dead.<ref>For more on the cultural variations of death and post-mortem photography, see: Parkes, C. M., Laungani, P., & Young, B. (Eds.). (2015).<i> Death and bereavement across cultures (Second edition)</i>. London : New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.</ref>

In the West, post-mortem photography has not completely gone away. The relatively few who do practice it mostly now take photographs of the dead in their casket and after they have been embalmed. The practice of dressing someone up in clothing that symbolized their life, such as their work uniform or wedding clothes, is still frequent in Western culture, where these individuals sometimes have their photographs that are mostly kept private in the family. African-American traditions have still kept post-mortem traditions to an extent. Elizabeth Heyert is one photographer who recently created a traveling exhibition of African-American post-mortem photographs showing the deceased in their finest clothing and looking like they are resting in their caskets.<ref>For a recent exhibit on death and photography, see: Heyert, E. (2006). <i>The Travelers</i> (1. Aufl). Zürich: Scalo. </ref>